The secret letters of the Jonestown death cult

17 May 2008

Thirty years after the mass suicides and murders in Guyana, Barry Isaacson unveils a cache of letters he found in his LA home, mapping the pain of one of the families

If Phyllis was allowed out of Jonestown to talk to her husband about their situation, it is almost certain that she refused to give her consent to the release of the children. When Gene Chaikin returned to Jonestown, Jim Jones immediately ordered that his food be spiked with large doses of Thorazine. Gene spent what remained of his life under heavy sedation and may have been confined for some of that time to the ‘Extended Care Unit’, which housed dissidents placed there to be ‘resocialised’, next to where Phyllis worked as nurse-administrator of the medical staff. In the most informative journal of daily life in Jonestown known to have survived, Edith Roller, an elderly English professor, notes: ‘Phyllis Chaikin said she wanted to change her name. She thinks she has been too dependent on Gene. Gene agreed with her.’

‘We have at long last opened our hearts to you, expressing the sorrow and agony which we have restrained over five long years. Any time you express the wish to resume normal relations and exchange with us, the past will be forgotten. For after all we do love you and the children more than any other persons. We shall continue to cherish you to our last day on earth. The peerless joy of raising you from childhood to youth is a unique life experience, indeed.’

Final sentence of the letter from Dr and Mrs Herbert Alexander to their daughter Phyllis, 21 September 1977.

The following is from a letter in the FBI files from Phyllis Chaikin to Jim Jones, undated but probably written in mid- to late 1978 when the main preoccupation of the community was its end of days:

‘Dad... The very people who resist Revolutionary Suicide because they want to save their asses would make excellent captives for the enemy... Though the strongest might kill themselves before being taken, the weakest — no matter what they might say in public meetings — would not kill themselves and would be the first to talk.

‘We prepare the people by reading the words of strong, assertive revolutionaries of the past who took this choice over the p.a. system... We will meet in the pavilion surrounded with highly trusted security with guns. Names will be called off randomly. People will be escorted to a place of dying by a strong personality... who is loving, supported [sic] but non sympathetic. They are accompanied by two strong security men with guns. (I don’t trust people to arrange their own death... but [it] can be arranged by outside pressure and no alternatives left open.) At the place of dying they are shot in the head and if Larry does not believe they are definitely dead their throat is slit with a scalpel. I would be willing to help here if it is necessary. The bodies would be thrown in a ditch. It might be advisable to blindfold the people before going to the death place in that the blood and body remains on the ground might increase the agitation.’

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Dr James Thompson

May 16th, 2008 12:38pm Report this comment

Thank you for a beautifully written story about a loving mother and father.

Tony Loscalzo

May 17th, 2008 1:09pm Report this comment

As a Psych major I recall a Jone's speech in about "65. He started out like a conservative and ended as a one-world collectivist. I concluded he was not only crazy but also communist.

Jennie Laurie

May 18th, 2008 5:02am Report this comment

Thank you for that most beautiful and heart-wrenching piece, told with dignity and compassion.

Barry Isaacson

July 23rd, 2008 7:42pm Report this comment

Gosh, I've only just checked in again and was surprised to find that comments had been posted about my article. Thank you, I very much appreciate the positive response.